


Careful

by JayceCarter



Series: 30 Day OTP Challenge Thane/Female Shepard [2]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angry Sex, F/M, Fights, Shameless Smut, Shower Sex, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 05:41:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14182083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayceCarter/pseuds/JayceCarter
Summary: Shepard is tired of arguing with Thane, but at least the two of them can work out their issues in another way.





	Careful

**Author's Note:**

> Day Two Prompt: Kissing (Naked)

Thane never gave up on a contract, and it seemed he never gave up on a fight, either.

 

Shepard had tried everything to end the current line of discussion, and discussion was a very loose term for his lecturing. The drell managed to hold onto the fight like Mordin and his microscope.

 

"This will not go away," he assured her as she walked into the communal bathrooms for a shower with him on her heels.

 

"I got that sense when you wouldn't shut up on the elevator ride. However, if you want to bitch at me all night, I figured I might as well go on with my routine." She pulled her top off, hanging it on the hook by the shower, then shimmied out of her pants after toeing off her shoes. A quick smirk over her shoulder showed Thane's gaze pinned to her ass. "But, feel free to keep lecturing me."

 

He swallowed, the sound loud in the room as she stepped into the shower, leaving the curtain open.

 

Life on military ships had stripped away her modesty. Showering in the open was part of life, and nudity not something to even give a second thought about. Hell, even hook-ups rarely had any real privacy. When you walked in on someone in the middle of sex, you pretended not to see anything and walked out.

 

She doubted anyone else would walk in, given the hour, and since it was her normal shower time. Most of the crew gave her privacy, but even if they happened in? She just couldn't find it in herself to care.

 

The water rained down on her, hot enough to wash away the dirt and the frustration from the fight.

 

Thane was sweet, and kind, and at times impossible when he got something in his head. The ability to notice details, to think things through, to recall, they all made him excellent as his profession and annoying as a lover.

 

Right then? It was that Shepard was not careful enough, that she took too many risks. That was part of the life to her, but then again, she'd never had someone who gave a shit about her before.

 

She wasn't sure she liked it, to be honest.

 

"You can be a foolish woman," he said from just behind her.

 

Lured in? Perfect.

 

She turned, arching her back to run water through her hair, breasts pushed out toward him.

 

Playing dirty was fine by her. Winning was more important than playing fair.

 

"I'm not a kid. I've lived a long life by doing exactly what I do."

 

"And I wish for you to live a much longer life with me, but that will not happen if you needlessly throw yourself into danger!" His voice lifted into a rare yell, a crack in his unflappable exterior.

 

She cherished those times when she caught a glimpse of what was beneath that careful surface, below what others saw.

 

Shepard set a hand on his chest when he leaned closer, then pushed him away before the tilted her head back to rinse her hair again.

 

A soft growl was the answer, then the shuffle of clothing.

 

This side of Thane, the risk, the hard edges he'd spent so long learning to control, it excited her. It was the Thane no one else saw, and in some ways, it was the real him. It was her Thane.

 

She didn't have the chance to brace herself before he pushed her backward, one hand going behind her neck to pull her in for a kiss, his other on her waist.

 

The cold tile pressed against her back, the hot water not having long enough to warm it. The opposites trapped her. The heat of his body, the chill of the tiles. The sharp edges of the tiles, the smoothness of his scales.

 

His lips took hers in a rough kiss as if he could continue the argument this way, like he could win by force alone. His teeth nipped her bottom lip before he slid his tongue into the heat of her mouth.

 

Shepard lifted her leg and hooked it around his thigh to pull him closer, willing to give back everything he gave, to match his every angry movement.

 

It was why they worked, because neither backed down.

 

He grasped her thigh and pulled it up higher, so it hooked on his hip, the waters creating a buffer so his scales didn't irritate her skin.

 

He broke the kiss enough to speak, lips still against hers. "Promise me you will be more careful."

 

"You knew who I was when we started this. You don't get to try and change me now."

 

Another of those growls, low and angry sunk into her, making her shudder, pulling a moan from her.

 

He released her thigh and reached between them. His cock slid along her slit. "That was before. I would not have allowed it had I been there. I have lost one love; I will not lose another."

 

She tried to respond, but the words turned into a gasp when he shifted his hips forward and pushed into her.

 

Her arms went around his shoulders, fingers digging into his back as he filled her, that delicious burn, that slight sting especially when they went this fast.

 

There were nights when they took their time, when he spent hours worshiping every inch of her, when she pushed him down and tasted every part of him, when they whispered sweet nothings to each other.

 

That wasn't for that night, though. People like them needed both; they needed moments of sweetness and moments of anger.

 

Thane snapped his hips forward as he seated his cock inside her, his lips stealing the sounds that left her throat.

 

He swallowed them down, hand returning to her thigh to hold her still as he pulled back and thrust into her again.

 

The punishing pace had her unable to catch her breath. His muscles twisted and moved beneath his scales, strong despite his wiry frame. When her other knee gave, he caught her and lifted that leg.

 

She wrapped her thighs around his hips, his hands gripping her ass, using the leverage to fuck into her harder.

 

She gave up trying to kiss him, dropped her face to his neck, lips tasting his skin, savoring the way the toxin made her lips tingle.

 

Thane kept to his task, each thrust making her back press harder to the shower wall, the water spilling down over them both.

 

Shepard dug her nails into his back, urging him on, needing this, needing him. Maybe other couples couldn't understand this frenzy, but it was them. It was a moment of connection in a world neither of them could control. So many things they couldn't predict: the Collectors, his illness, their enemies. But in that moment, when he took her like that, they had something they could hold onto, something that didn't let them think about anything beyond them.

 

His rhythm broke, his hands tightening on her ass until she was sure she'd wear his finger-shaped bruises on her skin. He thrust into her deep, then stilled as he came, his breath heavy and warm against her shoulder. He'd leaned his head against the tile, his chest rising and falling against hers in unsteady breaths.

 

While his illness didn't often show, sometimes after a strenuous fight or after sex, she'd hear the strain of him drawing oxygen. A slight whistle, a struggle to draw in extra breaths.

 

Shepard kissed his throat as he worked to slow his breathing, to draw deep into his lungs.

 

Another moment and the soft whistle stopped, his panting slowed to even, deep breaths.

 

"Losing my wife almost destroyed me." He let her legs lower but wrapped an arm around her back to keep her close. His other hand slid down her body, reaching between her legs. "I allowed my rage to control me, and if it was not for Kolyat, I don't know if I would have ever come back from it."

 

"I'm not going to-" Her words cut off when he used his pointed finger to brush her clit.

 

"You can't say that, especially not you, who has already died. I know we lack the luxury of a safe life, but all I ask is that you remember you carry more than your own life into battle, Siha, you carry mine as well."

 

She struggled to listen, to pay attention to his words, but the way he played her had never been fair. He stroked her clit with soft touches, but they were more than enough after he'd already fucked her. What was it about Thane that could undo her off like this? How did he manage to make her feel whatever he wanted?

 

Still, he whispered against her ear as he drew her closer to a climax, as he played her. "If I lost you, I think I'd fall back into that rage. I do not think I could come back from it, either. I don't think I would want to, not to a world without you."

 

Shepard brushed her cheek against his as he pulled back, her forehead pressing against hers.

 

He stroked harder against her clit, switching to use his fused fingers that added more friction, more surface area. It let her tumble over that edge, her back arching. Her knees might have given out if he didn't have the grip he had on her.

 

But that was Thane in a moment, wasn't it? He might be angry, he might fight with her, but he'd never let her fall.

 

As her body loosened after she came, as she slowed her breathing, he spoke softly in the quiet shower. "I know you must do dangerous things, Siha. I would never ask you to give them up. Just promise me that you will try to be more careful, that you will try to come back to me no matter what."

 

She set a hand on his cheek and brushed her lips against his. "I promise."

 

At the words, the tension left him, tension she hadn't even realized he carried.

 

He pulled her closer for a tight hug before he took a step backward. "I should let you finish your shower."

 

"I'll stop by your quarters when I'm done, okay?"

 

He took a towel to wipe off before redressing. "Yes. I would like that."

 

Shepard offered one more smile before turning her back to him to finish her shower.

 

The door opened, then closed, but the heavy footsteps told her she wasn't alone.

 

"Next time could you have your arguments in a place other than the showers? I've been standing in the hallway for twenty minutes."  The shower curtain squeaked against the metal rod as Garrus snapped it shut. "And close the curtain. Not all of us have people to work off tension with."

 

Shepard turned the water off and wrapped her towel around herself. She came out to grin at Garrus, who'd started to strip down. "Jealous?"

 

"I like my females less likely to bite, and coming from a turian, that means something."

 

She laughed as he removed the rest of his clothing and walked into another shower stall, shutting the curtain behind him. They'd gone into hell together, and she doubted she'd ever find a friend as good as Garrus.  "Remember that the next time you mouth off to me."

 

Shepard headed toward the door, ready to relax with Thane, to curl up with him and let the anger of their fight drift away.

 

"He's right, Shepard."

 

She paused, turning back. "What?"

 

"Thane's right. You should be more careful. You and I? We've been through a lot, seen a lot that most people will never see, but what you two have? You don't find that very often. Don't let it get away because you're stubborn and want to play this one-woman-strike-team thing. Both of you deserve a happy ending, and you won't get it if you get yourself killed."

 

She hesitated by the door, thrown by the serious conversation, by the lack of snark from her friend.

 

Instead of responding in kind, because any more feelings between them and someone was going to throw a punch, Shepard smiled. "You're just saying that because you're hoping to listen in on a few more shower sessions, you lonely pervert."

 

His chuckle followed her as she walked out. "Maybe."

 

Maybe she had a few things in her life worth sticking around for beyond her mission, and maybe they deserved a little more caution.

 

Though, if she ever forgot, she wouldn't mind Thane being angry at her again. . .


End file.
